Breakaway South Ossetia Elects Parliament

Self-styled South Ossetian authorities aspire to join Russia.

On May 23, the breakaway region of South Ossetia held its fourth parliamentary elections, since seceding from Georgia as a result of the bloody armed conflict in 1992. Despite signs of a Kmara movement in the region that irritated the South Ossetia’s unrecognized authorities calm election ensued.

According to the official results of the polls, the ruling party, Unity (Edinstvo), which is backed by the de facto President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoev, gained most of the mandates in the 34-seat parliament. The Communist Party of South Ossetia could also secure several seats in the legislature.

The four seats in the parliament which are allocated for ethnic Georgians living in the region  once again remain vacant, as Georgians in South Ossetia continue to boycott these elections, which are internationally condemned as illegitimate.

“The elections cannot be legitimate. The whole world does not recognize the polls,” Goga Khaindrava, the State Minister in charge of conflict resolution, said on May 23. 

Observers from Georgia’s other separatist region of Abkhazia, as well as from Moldova’s breakaway Transdnestria and Russia’s North Ossetian Republic monitored the elections in South Ossetia.

“If You Want a Unified Ossetia, vote for the Unity Party” – was the pre-election slogan of the ruling Unity party, referring to the main goal of Tskhinvali – unification with Russia’s North Ossetian Republic.

“Our main goal is to join the Russian Federation and nothing will hinder us to fulfill this. We will achieve this goal,” President Eduard Kokoev told reporters on May 23 after casting his ballot.

At the entrance of Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region, a huge billboard was erected, depicting the Russian president,Vladimir Putin, and reads: “Vladimir Putin – Our President.”

But the appearance of the word “Fagu,” (which means enough in Ossetian,) on the billboard marked the first sings of the Kmara (Enough in Georgian) movement in South Ossetia.

Kmara, which played an important role in the November 2003 Rose Revolution, and later in ousting of ex-Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze, now plans to conduct serious activities in South Ossetia.   
 
One of the leaders of the Kmara movement, Tea Tutberidze, told Civil Georgia that Kmara has “developed a plan of action, which is of course very different from the one used in Tbilisi last year and in Batumi. Currently we are working with the local youth. Our supreme goal is to attract and mobilize the Ossetian youth.”

On May 24th the Tbilisi-based television station, Imedi, aired two Kmara activists, both ethnic Ossetians. Both of them refrained from revealing their identities, but they told Imedi TV that Kmara must resort to covert activities in the region.

“We will not let Kmara and these kinds of organizations operate in South Ossetia. We will severally eradicate all the signs of a Kmara movement,” President Eduard Kokoev told reporters on May 23rd.

Tea Tutberidze admits that activity in South Ossetia would be rather difficult and dangerous, but also concedes that “nothing is impossible.”

“It was not easy in Adjara. From the very beginning of our activities, Kmara was subject to repression and its activists were under frequent attacks from the former authorities of Adjara,” Tea Tutberidze said.
 
She said that Kmara will gain momentum in South Ossetia slower than it happened in Adjara. “We will work gradually there,” Tutberidze added.

Control by the self-styled authorities of South Ossetia is not as tight over the region as it is in breakaway Abkhazia. As a result of a decade-long peace process, Tbilisi has restored control over a number of Georgian villages in South Ossetia.

Moreover, Mikheil Saakashvili unexpectedly paid a visit to Tskhinvali on the 3rd of January, just one day before the presidential elections in Georgia. He also visited several Georgian villages in the breakaway region. This surprise move by Saakashvili irritated the authorities in the region, as they were not informed of this visit in advance.